Private Lenders Increasingly Financing Fossil Fuels: Private lenders are financing significantly more oil and gas operations than just a few years ago as big banks begin to limit or cease financing those projects, Bloomberg reports. The trend, quantified by data provided by analytics firm Preqin, is especially prevalent among European-based banks in response to stronger limits on fossil fuel lending there. While it remains to be seen how stronger climate safeguards could impact fossil fuel asset values, the shift to private sources of financing is, in some instances significantly, increasing borrowing costs for fossil fuel companies — for example, an Australian coal company was forced to pay 650 basis points, or 6.5 percentage points above the secured overnight financing rate on a $1.1 billion loan last week. The privatization of fossil fuel financing also means risky fossil assets will be more difficult to track due to laxer disclosure requirements — similar to how oil majors have offloaded some of their most polluting operations to less climate-sensitive drillers and private equity firms. (Bloomberg $)

927MW Sunrise Wind Project Approved Off Martha's Vineyard: The Biden administration announced on Tuesday its approval for a 924-megawatt offshore wind project that will power approximately 320,000 New York homes when it comes online in 2026. The Sunrise Wind project, developed by Ørsted and the utility Eversource, is located 30 miles east of Montauk, New York, and 18 miles south of Martha's Vineyard. It will be the country's seventh — and largest — major offshore wind farm. The project's approval marks a positive development for an industry facing inflationary pressures, increased borrowing costs, and supply chain difficulties. The seven already-approved offshore wind projects will together generate eight gigawatts of power; the Biden administration has set a goal of achieving 30 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030.  (Bloomberg $, Reuters, E&E $, Politico Pro $, AP, Newsday)

Baltimore Bridge Collapse Will Block Coal Exports: The collapse of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge Tuesday could block as much as 2.5 million tons of coal exports from the country's second-largest coal-exporting port over up to six weeks, but the disruption will have little impact on global prices. Most of the coal passing out of Baltimore Harbor is high-sulfur thermal coal bound for Asia for power production, and the disruption could affect Indian markets. Companies also have the ability to divert some, but not all, of Baltimore-bound coal shipments to other ports, most significantly Norfolk, Virginia. Approximately 500,000 tons of LNG exports are also shipped through the area blocked by the collapsed bridge every month. The bridge collapsed early Tuesday morning after being hit by a container ship that lost power soon after leaving the Port of Baltimore. Six people are presumed dead. President Biden promised to "move heaven and earth" to rebuild the bridge and said the federal government would foot the bill. (Bloomberg $, Wall Street Journal $, Argus Media, New York Times $, CBC, Business Insider, Heatmap $, CNBC, Barron's; LNG: Reuters; Biden: (Politico Pro $, Politico Pro $; Collision/collapse details: Baltimore Sun, Wall Street Journal $, AP)

BRAZIL: At least 27 dead as flooding ravages southeast Brazil (CNN), Brazil: Hundreds of homes destroyed in deadly floods (Deutsche Welle)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: Pennsylvania county joins other local governments in suing oil industry over climate change (AP), Suburban Philadelphia county files climate lawsuit against oil industry (E&E $)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: Security threats from climate change spur NATO investment in startups (Bloomberg $), Calls for International Criminal Court to end ‘impunity’ for environmental crimes (The Guardian), US and EU differ over the future of fossil fuel subsidies in OECD talks (FT $)

DOE: White House funds $6B to decarbonize US industrial sector (Utility Dive), Biden’s big bet on aluminum (Heatmap $), US pledges up to $1B for two pioneering ​‘green steel’ projects (Canary Media)

DOI: Greens sue BLM to set Nevada monument management plans (E&E $)

WHITE HOUSE: Biden's 'hush-hush' oil boom (Axios)

THE HILL: Democrats try to Trump-proof climate health programs (E&E $), Republicans seek to limit national monument designations (New Mexico Political Report)

HOUSE: EV critic Moolenaar to chair House China committee (E&E $)

SENATE: Tammy Duckworth, Sherrod Brown and Bob Casey introduce new bill to make public transit more accessible (CBS)

POLITICS: Climate strife divides US Chamber. Will departures follow? (E&E $)

ELECTIONS: Biden’s secret weapon? Older climate voters with time and money. (E&E $), The surprising reasons why Big Oil may not want a second Trump term (Washington Post $)

TRIBES: This month’s Superfund listing of abandoned uranium mines in the Navajo Nation’s Lukachukai Mountains is a first step toward cleaning them up (Inside Climate News)

CITIES AND STATES: States are making a major mistake with their use of money from the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, report says (The Cool Down), Bills could expand shared solar programs in Dominion, Appalachian Power territories (Virginia Mercury), Maine on track to meet energy storage goals, report finds (Utility Dive), New York sets new renewable energy generation records (Reuters), Utah governor signs bill to keep large coal plant alive (E&E $), What Diane Burman has to say after 11 years at NY utility regulator (E&E $)

FERC: States shouldn’t have to pay for transmission driven by other states’ policies: FERC’s Christie (Utility Dive)

IMPACTS: Andean alarm: Climate crisis increases fears of glacial lake flood in Peru (The Guardian), America’s most visited national park threatened by climate change (E&E $), DC is seeing the least wintry years and decades it has known (Washington Post $), Deadly spring storm brings blizzard conditions to the Plains and the threat of strong tornadoes to the South (CNN), Record snow falls in Minneapolis after historically warm winter (Washington Post $), Raging storms pushed disaster damages above $100 billion in 2023 (Bloomberg $)

HEAT: Schools to reopen in South Sudan after two weeks of extreme heat (AP)

WILDFIRES: New warning system could save lives during wildfires (Yale Climate Connections)

(DE)FORESTATION: Is tree planting all it's cracked up to be? (Context), Majority of EU countries ask bloc to scale back deforestation law (Reuters)

RENEWABLES: US West hydropower production plunged to 22-year low last year (The Hill)

BUILDINGS: Berkeley plans to repeal first US gas ban (E&E $, AP), Homes need to electrify. New building codes will make that harder (Canary Media), A Dutch architect’s vision of cities that float on water (The New Yorker $)

LNG: EQT eyeing data center ‘gold rush’ for natural gas-fired power, unleashing more LNG (Natural Gas Intel)

OIL & GAS: Oil's geopolitical problems are getting harder to ignore (Axios)

PLASTICS: The plastics industry’s carbon footprint has doubled in the past few decades (Yale Climate Connections)

HYDROGEN: A global gold rush for buried hydrogen is underway — as hype builds over its clean energy potential (CNBC)

DAVY JONES’ MINERALS: China and Russia challenge US claim to mineral-rich stretches of seabed (FT $)

UTILITIES: Sonnen CEO aims to repeat company’s Utah virtual power plant success (Utility Dive)

EVs: How two top car salesmen pitch EVs, one in Trump country and one on Biden’s turf (Inside Climate News), China opens WTO dispute against US subsidies to protect its EV industry (Reuters, Politico Pro $), A pivot to China saved Elon Musk. It also binds him to Beijing. (New York Times $)

CRYPTO: Texan bitcoiners start mining in Argentina, where peso is in freefall (CNBC)

AI: AI will suck up 500% more power in UK in 10 years, grid CEO says (Bloomberg $)

BIG GREENS: Environmental Defense Fund will lay off some US staff (Politico)

AGRICULTURE: They grow your berries and peaches, but often lack one item: Insurance (New York Times $), Octopuses are highly intelligent. Should they be farmed for food? (Yale Environment 360)

BOOKS: New book details how ‘barons’ took over American agriculture (The Hill)

SHIPPING: Shipping industry faces fuel dilemma in bid to cut emissions (Reuters)

CARBON CAPTURE: Exxon hydrogen CCS plant advances with power company deal (E&E $)

GEOENGINEERING: Geoengineering faces a wave of backlash over regulatory gaps and unknown risks (Inside Climate News)

FINANCE: Green investment trusts face vote on future as shares slide (FT $), Investors file record number of climate resolutions for North American companies (Reuters), The $280 billion climate bond market that isn’t working (Bloomberg $)

INTERNATIONAL: Australia’s carbon credits system a failure on global scale, study finds (The Guardian), China grid giants seek solutions for a system flooded with solar (Bloomberg $), China’s solar billionaire feels the heat as sector faces upheaval (FT $), EU environment ministers stage 2-hour clash over 2040 climate target (E&E $), EU nature restoration laws face collapse as member states withdraw support (The Guardian), Europe's clean power sources on a record roll in early 2024 (Reuters), South Africa wants biodiversity sector to mirror multi billion climate drive, minister says (Bloomberg $), Spraying manure and throwing beets, farmers in tractors again block Brussels to protest EU policies (AP), Vietnam boosts coal imports as it promises investors no more power cuts (Reuters)

• Extreme heat is deadly. Californians need to pay up to protect themselves (LA Times, Sammy Roth column $)
• Today’s worsening climate crisis needs the leaders of tomorrow (The Hill, Thomas Bateman and Michael Mann op-ed)
• The SEC makes the call: Climate risk equals financial risk (Utility Dive, Bob Hinkle op-ed)
• China’s EV and solar boom is a capitalist win for communism (Bloomberg, David Fickling column $)
• The ’90s are over: 5 reasons to embrace carbon pricing today (The Hill, Kimberly Clausing and Catherine Wolfram op-ed)
• What's worse for the planet than planes? Drained bogs. (Bloomberg, Lara Williams column $)
• Biden’s clean-industry grants punch above their weight (Bloomberg, Liam Denning column $)

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